Young Adult Offenders

Offenders aged 17 to 20 years (16 to 20 years in Scotland) form a separate category from juvenile and adult offenders. In England and Wales the penalties for young adults are fines and compensation, attendance centre orders and probation orders; offenders may also be sentenced to up to 240 hours of community service. As in the case of juvenile offenders, a custodial sentence may be imposed only when no other measure would be appropriate. The custodial sentences for offenders of this age are the detention centre order (for young men sentenced to a term of four months or less) and the youth custody sentence (for both sexes). For the most serious offences young adults may be sentenced to custody for life.

Detention centres, which receive offenders directly from the courts, operate a consistent regime, which is geared to the short sentences involved. This inculcates a high standard of discipline and effort; in senior centres it includes a full working week; younger offenders receive at least 15 hours of education a week. Both junior and senior centres provide one hour of physical training each day. The youth custody centre regime is designed for offenders who are usually serving a minimum sentence of over four months and for those allocated from a local prison. The aim is to provide flexible but coherent programmes of activities which are as constructive as possible and can include an element of vocational training. Some young offenders sentenced to youth custody and held in local prisons and remand centres in special accommodation where as full a regime as possible provided. The Criminal Justice Act provides for a unified custodial sentence for young and young adult offenders under the age of 21 in England and Wales: the detention centre order and the youth custody sentence are being replaced by detention in a young offender institution. Young offenders are eligible for parole on the same terms as adults and all are supervised after release.

In Scotland young offenders aged under 21 sentenced to detention serve their sentences in a young offenders’ institution. Remission of part of the sentence for good conduct, release on parole, and supervision after release are available. In Northern Ireland offenders aged 17 and 21 who are sentenced to three years or less are sent to a young offenders’ centre.

Crime Prevention

In the past four years the Government has placed greater emphasis on crime prevention. Some 12 government departments have been brought together in a ministerial group to deal with crime prevention strategies. These include efforts to improve security on housing estates; to ensure that architects, planners and designers make new dwellings less easy to burgle; and to understand the root causes of crime. The Government is also seeking action by the European Community to encourage car manufactures to design their products in such a way as to make it difficult for criminals to steal vehicles or their contents.

Five local projects have been set up recently with support from the Home Office to see how crime and the fear of crime could be reduced through coordinated action by local government, private businesses, the police and voluntary agencies. As part of the Government’s safer cities programme, these successful projects are being extended on the same basis to some other urban areas. The establishment of local crime prevention panels has been encouraged and there are nearly 56,000 neighbourhood watch schemes, some of which have succeeded in reducing crimes such as burglary. Crime Concern, a national independent voluntary body, was formed to support local crime prevention activity and to promote best practices in it.